Galatians 5:16 - Assisted living

"But I am saying, by [the] Spirit be walking and desires of flesh you should definitely not be finishing.’

-Desire is one thing.  Consummating it, giving in to it and completing it is another thing altogether.  Just because our flesh desires something doesn’t mean that we have to give in to it.  We can say no to the flesh.  We can make our flesh do that which it is loathe to do.  This is called self-control.  And as we will see in just a few verses, it is a fruit of the Spirit, a (super!)natural byproduct of God’s presence and work in the life of a surrendered heart.  Before we came to be in Christ this was not an option.  But now in Him, the possibilities are supernaturally endless...!

-Now we are free, no longer to live as slaves to the law, but neither are we to become enslaved to the desires of our flesh.  Our freedom - freedom from guilt and condemnation and freedom from the indebtedness to the law, of having to obey its every last jot and tittle - This freedom can be abused and devolve into license.  We can be tempted and feel free to indulge ourselves and give into the flesh, knowing full well that now there is no longer any condemnation for us in Christ (Romans 8.1).  Giving in to and pursuing the things which we want in place of God and what He wants.  God will forgive us, right?  He won't condemn us, right?  Jesus paid for that one, didn’t He?  This is what Paul just warned us about.  We (supposedly) have crucified the flesh along with its desires, dead and buried, but it is waiting to be fed, nevertheless.  Like some starving, mangy mongrel.  For as long as we tarry in this fleshy body, the desire to choose what I want - regardless of whether or not it is what God wants - lies in waiting, crouching, warm embers waiting to be stoked and fanned into flame.

-And herein lies the secret to gaining that victory over the desires of the flesh - walk by THE SPIRIT.  The same Spirit of promise Who lives in our hearts (Galatians 3.5, 3.14), Who gives us the awareness in our hearts that we truly are adopted children of our heavenly Father (Galatians 4.6), the same Spirit Who helps us to persevere and endure all things in this life while we patiently and eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness in the next (Galatians 5.5) - He is indeed our Helper, our Source of strength in times of trouble and temptation, just as Jesus promised (John 14.16, 16.7).  He is the One for Whom Jesus instructed His disciples to wait after He ascended into heaven, the One Who would clothe them with power (Luke 24.29) - power to be His witnesses (and martyrs), divinely-sourced supernatural ‘help’ to live lives which would truly reflect His goodness and holiness and love to a world in desperate need of hope.  We’re talking serious help.  The assist of a lifetime, the grandaddy of all assists.

-WALK by the Spirit, Paul says.  peripateo, to tread around.  It is about how you conduct yourself, the means by which you get around, how you simply live your life.  Do this, BY the Spirit, Paul says.  He is how we get around and live our lives.  He is our means of locomotion, our means of living.  Yes, we are to be on assisted-living.  Power-assist - but this is not about brakes.  He is our accelerator - our Divine Life Turbocharger!  He is our ride - our car, or hoverboard, or segway, or airplane - whatever picture works for you - if we move or do anything, He is the One Who gets us there.  He doesn’t just give us guidance on what to do or where to go, He’s not just the gps, He’s the very vehicle itself.  He is that divine wind beneath our wings, taking us higher, further than we could ever imagine.  He is our heavenly new pair of kicks, putting that spiritual bounce in every step we take.  Put Him on, climb fully into Him, live and move around in Him and let Him bring the increase.  When we are moving around in Him, by means of Him, He shows us what is right and what is not.  What God wants, and what He does not.  When to say yes, and when to say no.  AND He gives us the power to do so - to enter in, to hang in, or even to get the heck out of there.  The more we starve and crucify those fleshy desires, the weaker and more emaciated they become.  It doesn’t mean that those desires will not ever present themselves, but Paul here promises that we will NOT carry them out.  We will NOT fulfill or bring them to completion.  Not when we are on (His Holy Spirit) Assisted living.

-So I can love the Lord with all my heart to day - BY HIS SPIRIT.  I can love and cherish my wife today - BY HIS SPIRIT.  I can love and respect my husband today - BY HIS SPIRIT.  I can love and disciple my kids today - BY HIS SPIRIT.  I can love my neighbor and serve at my job today - BY HIS SPIRIT.  I can bless my city and the nations today - BY HIS SPIRIT.  I can rejoice in all things and be Jesus' witness/martyr today - BY HIS SPIRIT.  I can find victory over that habit, over that besetting sin today - BY HIS SPIRIT.  I can forgive and forebear, I can go low and go long and soar on the wings of an eagle today - BY HIS SPIRIT.  This is the key to those greater works, to living that kind of life which truly lights the darkness and makes those around me, the ones stumbling around in darkness, stop and take notice.  This is what the world really needs now.  It’s up to us as to whether or not we give it to them...

Galatians 5:15 - Nauseating Spiritual Cannibalism

"But if one another you are biting and devouring, be seeing not by one another you should be consumed."

-Spiritual cannibalism - that’s what Paul is warning against.  Animals.  Base survival, turning on those closest to you in a desperate situation.  Or, maybe it’s not quite so desperate.  Sometimes we just take little bites out of one another - a tasty morsel of gossip here, a snipey complaint or grumble there (Philippians 2.14).  Other times we jettison any pretense of forbearance or forgiveness and break the family apart, we break up the band, put it right asunder (cf Philippians 4.2, 4.5; 1Corinthians 13.7; Colossians 3.13).  Of course all this is in fact the polar opposite of loving and serving one another.  Apparently this must have been happening within the assembly there in Galatia.  They were turning on one another, wounding with their words no doubt, causing conflict and holding grudges and walking in unforgiveness.  Surely this was a result of the inroads of these judaizers.  The controversial teaching had spawned disagreements, disagreements which were turning ugly and now this assembly of called-out-to-be-gathered-together ones had drawn up battle lines.  Divided.  They were a family at war.  Yes, ugly, unseemly, awkward and embarrassing to any onlooker.  This schism threatened their very survival as an assembly, the exact reason why the Lord had called them out of the world and into existence to begin with - to show Him to the world (cf Philippians 2.15), to give the unbelievers around them a picture of His glory and grace, and they would do this by their love.  But for now they were sliding apart in a growing division of seismic proportions, one which did indeed threaten their very existence.  Back in those days, divorce was not an option, the very thought of a church split and of multiple congregations existing thereafter within a single city was incomprehensible.  Totally inconveivable.  No really, I’m sure the thought would have never even entered Paul’s mind, nor the mind of any other early believer.  That there might be two disparate congregations existing side by side within one city - completely unimaginable.  No, they were (meant to be) one.  Theirs was one city, one assembly.  That’s how they rolled.  They rolled together, or not at all.  And so an assembly like this one in Galatia was really only left with two options - one was to faithfully come together and work out their differences in love and grace and truth, to serve and build up and bear with one another.  The other option would be to allow these divisions, these fault lines, to fester and widen like two massive sliding tectonic plates and not only get them completely off kilter but ultimately consume and destroy them, destroy their witness, destroy their ability to be that blessing to their city for which God had blessed them to begin with.  Paul is warning them - watch out!  Wake up and be careful, take care and fix what needs to be fixed, because this is going sideways and destruction is going to happen if you don’t do something about it.

-Sadly, we don’t know how things turned out for this assembly.  We do know how things turned out for the global body of Christ.  Not good.  Division slowly crept in, and ultimately the body fractured wide open.  Disunity and factions now are rampant.  They are tolerated, even.  Acceptable.  They are called denominations.  It is the new norm, yet so far from that fetching unified bride for whom Jesus prayed in that upper room before He sacrficed Himself to make it all possible (John 17.11-22).  "That they may be one", He prayed.  "That they all may be one... that they may be one, just as We are One".  Three times He asked it.  Three times.  Surely He meant it.  Surely His Father heard Him, heard His pleading, His interceding on behalf of His would-be glorious bride.  And yet, what do we have today?  Churches split and believers turn on one another over the smallest of things.  Carpet choices.  Placement of ornaments.  Preaching styles.  Yes, there are weightier issues of doctrine (many of which are still non-essential, non-salvific), but even with those few others, surely there is a way to come together, to lay aside differences of interpretation for the greater glory of the Bride (and her glorious Groom).  Yet in our brokenness we let other people’s brokenness drive us apart, bodies (and Body) split asunder ad nauseum.  God have mercy on us all...

Galatians 5:14 - Cliff Notes by Jesus?

"For the whole law in one word has been fulfilled, in this: 'You will love the neighbor of you as yourself.'"

-Breaking news, Judaizers!  Heads up, would-be legalizers!  Rather than getting caught up in circumcision and all the myriad requirements of the Mosaic law, Paul here drops a bombshell.  What he gives us is the inspired, authorized cliff notes of the entire law (and endorsed by Jesus, no less!).  No need to read the whole thing, in other words (much less try to keep every last one of them)(altho reading it is still a good idea!) - the entirety of the law is summed up in just one word (or six, to be exact).  One phrase.  All you need to do in order to fulfill the whole kit-n-kaboodle is just this one thing: Love. Your. Neighbor. (Paul says the same thing to the Romans - Romans 13.9).  This is Leviticus 19.18, the second "Great Command", given separately from the more prominent first "Great Command" of Deuteronomy 6.5, but given earlier, in fact, and somehow it became associated with its older sibling even before Jesus mentioned them in the same breath (Matthew 22.37-40, cf Luke 10.27).  

-It is certainly natural to ask, who is my neighbor, both for those rationalizers who are looking for an excuse not to love, and even more so for sincere people of faith who would love nothing better than to please the Lord by somehow fulfilling the entirety of His commands.  The definition of who I should consider to be my neighbor is clearly not confined to my immediate circle of intimates, or merely to those belong to whatever cultural or social circle with which I most closely identify.  It extends to both aliens (Leviticus 19.34) as well as to people I can't stand or even hate - to anyone who has a need, in fact (Luke 10.36-37).  The point being that love, showing mercy to anyone who has need of it, even to strangers, is how we most completely fulfill God’s purpose for us as His divine image bearers.  We are most like Him when we love.  We are best doing what He wants when we love - Him, AND others.  But for now, Paul is most concerned that this 2nd Great Command to love our neighbor gets applied within the body of Christ, between those of us who profess to follow the One Who first loved us and Who called us brothers and Who does gather us together to be a family, to be unified as one.  Loving one another is the best and first and foremost way to fulfill the law, to show the world that we really are the people of the Book... 

Galatians 5:13 - Land of the free and home of the whopper

"For you [all] upon freedom have been called, brothers.  Only not the freedom unto an opportunity for the flesh, but rather through the love, be serving one another."

-So, yes, we are free indeed.  Free from the soul-sucking bondage of obligatory law-keeping, from vainly trying to garner God’s acceptance through works.  Yes, we have been called to freedom.  But, freedom.  Freedom.  I do not think that word means what we think it means.  Here in the US, land of the free and home of the whopper, we think it means that I get to have it my way.  The land of opportunity, right?  The opportunity to super-size my combo meal and everything else, to super-size ME, to upgrade and update and indulge the threefold-self without limits, as long as I'm reasonably decent to most people, as long as you don't get in my way.  The opportunity to be selfish is what it is.  Me-first.  To which Paul says, uh-uh.  That may be the American way, but it is not the Christian way, not the way of the Cross.  Freedom in Christ, that freedom which He purchased with so great a love, with His precious blood, is not a ticket to boundless narcissism.  It was never meant to be a license to never say no to self.  In fact, it is just the opposite.  No, we have been set free to be like Jesus, the One Who so loved the world, Who came not to be served but to serve, to say yes to others, to give away His life, His rights, His wants, to spend His life and be spent - for others.  Deny yourself, say no to self, He said.  Not what I want, He said.  He came to show love, and love gives.  We were made for this, for love, to freely give and receive God's unconditional love in the ultimate expression of His breathtaking goodness.  Greater love has no man than this, than he lays down his life for His brother.  Just like Jesus, Who emptied Himself of self.  Which is precisely the point.  The way of self, it turns out, is just another form of bondage.  As long as I am enslaved to the threefold-self, giving in to the flesh and indulging my wants at every turn, I am completely unable to become that divine image bearer I was designed and recreated in Christ to be.  This is what we were always made for.  True freedom is found in the wide open spaces of God's unconditional love, giving and serving with no strings attached, no expectation of payback or wondering what might be in it for me.  God’s love does not live in that soul-sucking cul-de-sac called Me-Myself-And-I Circle, always circling around on what I want, that place where I am absorbed and lost in a black hole of selfishness.  God's game-changing love comes in and goes back out, life-giving, living water, like the Sea of Galilee (as compared to that truly dead Dead Sea, which only takes in and never gives).  God’s love blesses me to be a blessing.  And it starts with loving and serving my fellow believers.

-One another.  One another.  Two English words, but a single word in the Greek, and it appears over and over and over again in the New Testament.  Allélōn, sounds a little like ‘all alone’, but it is far from it in meaning.  In fact, it is about the exact opposite, because we are talking about not a lonely individual but rather a family, the family of God actually, gathered together and burdened with glorious purpose, a purpose which finds it primary expression in how God’s children relate to - wait for it... one another.  Jesus raised the flag first.  He said, you - God’s people - you need to wash one another’s feet (John 13.14).  You - God’s people, God's children - you should be loving one another, a ‘new’ command which He then repeated 5 times in a single setting (John 13.34-35, 15.12, 15.17).  Yes, you need to love the Lord your God with all your heart - and right alongside that you need to love your neighbor, but this neighbor love which shows my God-love now begins with loving and serving those others who are walking with Christ beside me, fellow members of God's family.  We are walking together and are helping one another - or should be.  Paul himself picks it up here and throughout his letters to the churches in Christ - 70 times he uses this word, shedding light on the importance of how we as the sons and daughters of the King (brothers and sisters in Christ!) are to treat and relate to one another.  Over and over and over again, he instructs God’s people - who are family - to actually live like one.  And not like just your average fallen human version of a family.  This family is (to be) divine, heavenly, heaven-sent.  Love one another with God's unconditional love, serve one another like Jesus - or at least that’s the idea.  God help us...

Galatians 5:12 - On mangling those works-entangling...

"Having wanted [that] even they will castrate [themselves], the [ones] upsetting you."

-Whoa!  Such strong, serious language coming from Paul.  But in his eyes, this is a serious situation.  He is so upset, Paul says the ones who have been wanting to cut foreskins off of Gentile converts to the faith, he wants them to go ahead and cut off their whole member!  That’s literally what Paul is saying here.  And perhaps more than actually being serious about castration, he wants these Galatian believers to realize just how serious it is.  Forcing someone who has embraced the true soul freedom of forgiveness through faith in Christ, forcing them to receive circumcision and to enter into the bondage of the ineffectual works-based righteousness of the Jewish religious tradition - this to Paul was horrific, just as horrific as the prospect of physical mutilation.  This person or persons who are hindering and troubling and upsetting the Galatians are leading them into bondage, slavery, to a place where the grace of Christ will be of no benefit to them.  Entangled and strangled by works such that they will be unable to enjoy the freedom for which Christ set them (and us!) free.  Tragic, really.  So much so, so horrifying a prospect to Paul that he is angry enough to be suggesting that these would-be works entanglers should instead be member-manglers.  Usually Paul is more inclined to reserve judgment for the Lord (Romans 12.17, 12.19; 1Thessalonians 4.6), and to be fair he does so here as well (Galatians 5.10), but it is both interesting and enlightening to observe how angry he is about what these Judaizers are doing.  May we find similar grace and wisdom to care just as deeply about the things which really matter to the Lord, and be less upset by the those things which have far less eternal significance...

Galatians 5:11 - Scandalous

"But I, brothers, if circumcision still I am preaching, why still I am being persecuted?  Then it has been nullified, the stumbling block of the cross."

-When we look at the early history of the church, we see that most of the persecution leveled at those first Christ-followers came from Jews, from their leaders whose religious tradition was grounded in works.  Their system not only placed circumcision front and center as the primary work for gaining entry into the Jewish religion, but also placed a high value on both excommunication and execution for those who transgressed or who taught something contrary to their tradition.  It is certainly instructive to recall the evolution of the thinking of the early church, whose Jewish tradition - not the law which God delivered to Moses - told them first to not even associate with an uncircumcised person - cf Acts 11.2-3, 11.19, assumed that the Good News was not for anyone uncircumcised - cf Acts 11.1, 11.18, and then assumed that circumcision ought to be a necessary requirement even for entry into the Christian church - Acts 15.5.  Yes, we find persecution coming from Gentile quarters as well (Acts 14.5, 16.20-23).  But if you remember, tho' the Gentiles carried out the crucifixion, it was the Jews who demanded it.  Pilate, the Gentile governor, tried to talk them out of it but ultimately consented, as he feared they would riot.  It was the Jews, led by Saul of Tarsus himself, who instituted that initial terrible deadly persecution of those early believers (Acts 8.1).  And in most of the cities where Paul and others go throughout the book of Acts, it was the Jewish leaders who would drive them out or stone them and leave them for dead (Acts 13.50, 14.2, 14.19, 17.5, 17.13, 18.12, 20.3).  Ultimately it was the Jews who wanted Paul dead (Acts 21.27-31, 23.22) - the Gentiles were inclined to let him go free (Acts 22.29, 26.30-32).

-The point Paul is making here is, had he been teaching the need for Gentile converts to be circumcised, the Jews would not have continued persecuting him.  But the very fact that the Jews were persecuting him - and were still doing so - was proof that he had not at any point embraced that thinking in any way whatsoever.  Entry into heaven for Paul was still entirely based on faith/trust in the death of Jesus of Nazareth on that cruel Roman Cross.  Paul maintained that THIS was the one work by which both Jew and Gentile could gain entry into the heavenly realms, a finished work, which left no more work to be done, not even circumcision.  Messiah had come and had suffered and died in order to secure full cleansing, perfect righteousness and forgiveness on our behalf, for all, both Jews and Gentiles, regardless of whether or not they were circumcised.  This was the scandalous teaching which made the Jews stumble, which chaffed those finely-honed works-based traditional Jewish sensibilities, and which in their eyes justified every ounce of persecution and attempted murder they could possibly direct at this one who blasphemed their tradition.  Paul thumbed his nose at the Jews perceived need both to be circumcised and to remain untouched and unstained by the religious filth of those were foreskinned.  Reprehensible.  Public outrage.  This was the scandal of the Cross - and that is actually the word in the Greek - skandalon.  This was the teaching which - to Paul’s point - he clearly still embraced.  Remember: for by grace we are saved, through faith, NOT as a result of [any] works... (Ephesians 2.8)

Galatians 5:10 - Wolves vs Lions vs Cavaliers

"I myself have been persuaded unto you [all] in [the] Lord that nothing other you will be thinking.  But the [one] troubling you [all] will bear the judgment, whoever he may be."

-Now, Paul affirms his faith in these disciples he helped bring into the faith, expressing his complete confidence that they will turn out okay.  He says that he is firmly convinced they are not going to embrace a mindset of works-based favor seeking in their walk with the Lord, that they will continue to walk by faith and seek the righteousness which comes only through faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross.  It's hard to know perhaps whether he really believes this, or if perhaps he thinks that an awareness of his high expectations for them will provide them with some additional incentive and accountability.  It could be both...

-Additionally, however, while Paul still does not know who this Judaizer is, this ravenous wolf, he also is confident that this individual who has been leavening their lump with teaching about circumcision will be held accountable, and that by the Lord Almighty Himself.  God sees.  He knows.  He is here, right where you are, every second of every minute of the day.  Not even the smallest sparrow falls to the ground without Him noticing it. He knows the thoughts and intentions of every heart.  He is the God with Whom we have to do, and He will repay every last one of us according to every last one of our deeds.  The one who was upsetting these Galatians and leading them away from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ was going to regret it, mark my words, Paul says.  Which should serve as a reminder to us all.  Our God is a God of mercy and love, yes, but He is not one to be trifled with.  He is indescribably good, but He is not a safe Lion.  Our inconsistent, occasionally casual and cavalier approach to worship and holiness and mission reveals the truth that we truly don't know (or always keep in mind) Who we're dealing with.  God have mercy on us...